During Allen's years out of the Army, he owned a construction company that he and I worked together. If you read the story "Our Beginning" you will see this is how we ended up spending so much time together and got married. 

Allen built fences, swimming pools, and decks. He loved to work with his hands. He was excellent at everything he did and a perfectionist about his work. You could always tell if Allen built a fence because it was the straightest fence you had seen. It was long hard work with a lot of travel involved. He went all over Missouri and Kansas and sometimes to Oklahoma and Arkansas. He loved the thought that he had left a physical mark on the world and that someone would say that was built by Allen Fenwick. 

 Allen joined the Army when he was 17 and went to basic training between his sophomore and senior year. Originally, he was in the National Guard in Kansas for about 15 years. He was a mechanic. During this time, he also worked at the Eldorado Maximum Security Prison. When I met him in 1998, he had just recently left the Nation Guard, his prison job, and his home state of Kansas. He spent several years as a civilian working his construction company, but he always talked about going back to the Army. I had known many military families and saw what they often endured, although I cared for my country and our military, I would not give Allen my support about rejoining the Army. However after years of talking about it, I finally realized that being a soldier was who he was. When Allen came back in he, he became a recruiter. He loved being a recruiter and a soldier again. He would come home and tell me about the new recruits he was helping and how the Army was going to give them a chance at a better life. With that, I would like to add some comments I received from some of his recruits upon his passing:

"Thomas Price II - Sgt Fenwick was my recruiter,and the best there ever was.. he signed my papers on May 22nd 2009,helped me get everything I needed to be a true US Army soldier..he was also there as a friend when I needed him most at AIT.. I would've never been where I am now if it wasn't for him..I'll never forget you Sgt.. RIP my brother.. I'll keep you in my prayers. ARMY STRONG!!"

"Javier Cantu - Hi Mrs Fenwick, I'm sorry for your lost. I was a recruit from Sgt Grant. The times I would go by the recruiting command I would talk to your husband. I looked up to him, I told myself I would want to be the Ssgt he was one day, or just like the E5 that recruited me. I remember all the great advice he shared with me, all all the laughs we had during HRAP. My prayers from my family and I are with yours. He will be missed...."